To be fair, maybe Donald Trump simply thinks Puerto Ricans should count as .6 percent of a person. That would put his figure of 18 casualties right in line with George Washington University’s finding that nearly 3,000 U.S. citizens died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
That would be the charitable interpretation, anyway. The uncharitable interpretation is — what the ever-living fuck, you full stack of boysenberry Belgian shit-waffles?
By now, everyone has seen Trump tweet’s attributing the official Puerto Rican death toll from Hurricane Maria to a Democratic conspiracy. Because in Trump’s world, Trump can never, by dint of his very Trumpiness, do anything wrong.
But some members of his eternally cowardly party are now breaking with him over this shit-cyclone of his own making.
Coincidentally, two of them are candidates in hard-fought statewide elections in Florida, and they’re kinda hoping that any Puerto Ricans who may have been chased from their island by Trump’s incompetence are not overly offended by Trump’s overt offensiveness.
From Politico:
Florida Republicans are angered by President Donald Trump advancing a conspiracy theory casting doubt on Hurricane Maria’s estimated death toll in Puerto Rico. Even Trump’s two top Florida allies, Gov. Rick Scott and GOP gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, disagreed with his insensitive comments.
Exploding on Twitter two months before Election Day, Trump’s comments have the potential to intensify Boricua voter registration efforts and perhaps election turnout. And that, Republicans and Democrats say, could prove crucial in Florida’s hotly contested races for U.S. Senate and governor, which are essentially tied races.
If you think Trump tweets stupid things strategically to deflect attention from much, much stupider things he’s said or done, you should probably revise that theory now. Because losing a U.S. Senate seat and a friendly governor isn’t going to help him much come 2019.
“Ron DeSantis is committed to standing with the Puerto Rican community, especially after such a tragic loss of life. He doesn't believe any loss of life has been inflated,” DeSantis’ campaign said.
Scott, whose Senate bid was encouraged by Trump and who raised money for Trump’s 2016 super PAC, had no comment through his office or Senate campaign. Both Scott and DeSantis have campaigned for Boricua votes in Florida and traveled to the island.
But Alan Levine, a Republican appointed Scott to Florida’s university governing board, couldn’t keep quiet.
“Mr. President. SHUT UP,” Levine replied to Trump on Twitter. “Any death, whether one or 3,000 is a tragedy. That doesn’t mean you caused it, and its not about you. Show compassion for the families,” Levine wrote. “Learn what we can so future response can improve. Honestly....”
Of course, most Republicans can see how disgraceful Donald “Garbage Hominid” Trump really is — they’re just not typically motivated to mention it. That is, unless he’s telling already motivated voters who have suffered untold tragedies that they didn’t really suffer them.
And, as we all know, Puerto Ricans just LOVE Donald Trump.
A recent poll of 1,000 Florida Puerto Ricans found only 18 percent approve of the president, and 72 percent disapprove. His net rating is a negative 53 percent.
Thanks for the bulletin-board material, Mr. Pr*sident. See you in November.
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